Over the summer, I finished listening to one of my absolute favorite podcasts of all time, Crime Junkie. (If you haven’t listened to the episodes, stop reading and listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify right now). I was eager to find a new podcast to listen to, but one with a different vibe. I was scrolling through TikTok one day, when I came across a user recommending to listen to the podcast “Plantbased, Not Perfect.” As someone who’d been on-and-off vegan for the past four years, I was immediately interested. So, one empty summer day in August, I decided to play an episode.
The first episode I listened to was why calories don’t matter, and making sure you are getting enough nutrients is far more important than counting an arbitrary number of calories everyday. According to the podcast, manufacturers are given a considerable margin of error when reporting the number of calories in a certain food.
After listening to the episode, it was like I’d been enlightened. The host of the podcast, Elizabeth Coe, has this way of explaining complex studies and scientific facts in a simple, no-nonsense manner. That is what I absolutely love about this podcast. It feels like I’m just getting the facts, and no bias.
Over the past few months, I’ve listened to episodes all about fruit, different types of sugar, the health effects of animal-based products, and even superfoods. One thing that’s important to note is that, while Elizabeth Coe is vegan, she doesn’t try to force her lifestyle onto her listeners. She admits herself that, from time to time, even she has real cheese, or eats salmon. She acknowledges that trying to be a strict vegan just leads to joyless restriction, instead of enjoying food and making great memories.
I think that this podcast has definitely helped me learn how to eat better, and is a great resource for every college student to listen to. I love learning about ways I can nourish my body and be my healthiest self possible while living in the real world.